The Gentle Hunter: Cloudjumper's Tale
by Sky the white dragon
Summary: Twenty years ago, during a raid on the village of Berk, a Stormcutter hesitated in his raid. He found a young infant who felt no fear of him and left with a woman who could see him for the beautiful creature he was. This is what Cloudjumper saw that night. *Contains Spoilers* -One-shot


His pressed in face pierced the dark, acrid smoke, he could taste the burning wood that was now little more than cracked, grey ash and cinders. As he flew through the sky, he released his secondary wings to scatter even more ash. The floating flecks of orange settled on his wings, they cause nothing more than a small sensation that was little more than small pokes on his skin.

The beautiful red sparks flew in the sky, to shine against the night. The look like the fireflies, the earths replication for the stars that it was only allowed to see when the welkin turned dark; these were the earths feeble and weak attempts to replicate it's better.

He was one with the heavens now, he saw the humans scatter as his brethren hurled their flames into the shacks and huts, causing them to burst into beautiful red/ orange fountains.

They tried to ground him with their nets, to force their handicaps upon him, to steal away his wings and exhibit his proud head on a stick or their walls, only to throw it into the cruel black sea when his attractive frills wilted, when his spiked nose dulled and his shiny hide lost its glimmer.

He was a predator, a hunter, he was a child of the sky, a prince of the wind, a explorer of the heavens, obeying the commands of the White King only, worthy enough to be the Kings adjutant and commander.

This was a hunt, a raid and he was the stalker who was feared. He watched the small sheep scatter, crying out their shrill bleats. He held the power in his wings as he climbed into the air flying over the battle that happened below his muscular figure. He saw his comrades stealing away food, in preparations for the coming of the King from his journey far across the sea.

He had been so enraptured by the cloud of flames, that he had not yet pillaged. He saw a home that was much larger than the others that were currently shrinking in size as the slowly modifying themselves into piles of burning sticks.

His tornado of fire erupted from his mouth into the wall of the upper level of this home. The wall was vaporized and collapsed. This was an example of his strength, nothing would halt him in his hunt.

He floated though the gap, the smoke drifted quickly away from him as his X-shaped duo of wings settled him on the worn, hot wood of the floor. He saw nothing of interest. Old pots that were quickly losing their luster, tapestries that waved and drifted as if trying to put out the flames that quickly ascended up their threads.

There was only one more thing that he hadn't checked a medium sized piece of carved wood in the far end of the room, the flames had not yet reached it, so he could see its beautiful markings that were reminiscent of the head and neck of a Typhoomerang or a Monstrous Nightmare.

He believed the object to be what humans called a "chest". These things were often heavily guarded and usually held things that were very pretty to look at. Small shiny circles that clicked softly on cave floors, colorful, hard rocks that looked like glass.

He was nowhere near his item of interest when he heard something akin to a shallow, quiet scream. The sound pierced his ears and caused a brief moment of pain.

He lowered his head and waked towards the object on his legs and second pair of wings, he held a newfound circumspection. He had heard of humans locking away skeletons of hatchlings and small dragons like Terrible Terrors in chests, had they locked something away while it was still alive? He didn't believe in ghosts, a creature of his dignity didn't buy superstitions like that, the thing inside that was making that noise was either dead and silent or alive and noisy.

He reached the wooden thing and found that had a large pocket. Inside things like small tapestries were settled inside. They covered a small bundle of soft skin, the Mighty Stormcutter saw bright green eyes and brown hair.

The dragons yellow eyes expanded, his black pupils grew in interest. The spines behind his eyes widened; the child began to cry as the dragon looked down on him; he waved his small hands, kicked his feet despite their entrapment underneath the covers.

The dragon didn't know why, but he felt the need to calm the infant. He lowered the spines on his head, he closed his mouth, hiding his sharp, meat shredding teeth. He positioned his head so that he could look at the baby and cover the infant from the draft that flowed from the opening that the dragon had left in the wall. Now the child could see nothing but the dragons head and neck.

The dragon gently purred in his throat at the infant, he kept his head low so as not to frighten it. The beast inhaled softly, taking in the scent of the human babe; he could small milk, wool, sweat and oil; but underneath it all, he could sense the smell that clung to children only, that smell was all over hatchlings and infant prey so he could tell that it was only a child. The child shivered despite the dragons warm breath.

The child had stopped crying but it had a fearful look on its face, eyes wide and mouth open slightly, ready to unleash that shrill cry. The large reptile gently cooed at the baby, the sound morphed into a sort of low hum; a soft song that echoed in the infants ear. The baby lost it's fear and responded with a coo of it's own. Their sounds mixed in harmony, the gentle song drew away attention from dying home around them that was steadily becoming grey dust.

The dragon brought up the left wing of his primary set, he unsheathed his claw and rested it on the child body for a moment. It was soft and warm, the heartbeat was steady and strong and it's breathing was rhythmic. The dragon brought the sharp talo to the child's face gently. The baby held it's hand up and grasped the claw that could've reduced it to nothing more than a pile of blood, flesh and bone so greatly maimed that it would never have a name on its pyre. The child laughed, seeing it's distorted reflection in the dragon shiny eyes; completely unaware that this was a killer. The baby shook the dragons claw as if it was an old friend. The dragon was an enemy of vikings, it was a killer of them and it needed to satisfy it's bloodlust. It was a savage, brutal monster; wasn't it? The small smile that it gave proved the contrary.

The dragon subconsciously touched the side of the cribs rocker, making it sway. The sudden and unexpected movement peaked the beast's interest, it pulled away its claw in a quick movement to look at the wooden semicircle that the crib was situated on. He felt a minuscule hitch on his left wing and then remembered the baby. The intruder smelled a small, small amount of exposed blood.

The quick slam of the door opening drew it's attention away from the tiny scratch on the baby's chin. He saw a female viking standing in the doorway, a shocked and terrified look on her face. She looked to the sides frantically and saw the sharpened steel that so many attacked them with. She held it out at him, the point was straight at him. He felt no fear now that the defenseless child was no longer main point of interest. He met this woman head on, her weapon was nothing against him.

She backed against the wall and the dragon put his face in front of hers. He looked in her eyes and she into his. He saw her green eyes and brown hair and instantly knew that she was the infants mother. She had believed that the Stormcutter had been ready to attack her child. But he hadn't.

The dragon could see the love and devotion in her eyes. He could see the kind soul she held. He knew that she was aware that he could kill her in a single blow, yet she had still faced him. He smiled at her, showing his understanding. A female dragon would've done the same thing to protect her clutch. She slowly returned it, radiating an understanding of her own. He knew, she had the heart of a dragon. Maybe, they weren't so different.

A roar that was not dragon interrupted them.

The animal turned and saw the chief, his hulking figure dove through the flames and grabbed the child from its cradle. A sharp piece of metal that had a crescent-shaped blade was thrown at him. The dragon dodged the weapon, he saw the female rushing towards the chief.

The dragon had a thought of how the White King would want to meet this woman. He had said he wanted to find a way to end the animosity between Man and Dragon, he would find a way to use this woman to unite them.

He rushed forwards, frills swelled, both pairs of wings flared and it rushed forwards he grabbed the woman before she reached her husband. He heard her scream to him and he to her. He heard the woman crying but she didn't struggle.

The other dragons were leaving with him as he called the retreat. He looked at the woman in his talons, her head was down as she sobbed. The Stormcutter didn't want her sad. He left the rest of the party and ascended.

He rose gently into the steel blue clouds, the night sky was glowing with the aurora. He heard her gasp at the beauty before them, indeed the beautiful pink, purple, blue and green ribbons before the fluttered like banners above them, the stars were glitter in this picture that was no longer hidden by the clouds.

He dove again into the clouds for a moment and came back up into the beautiful, pristine night. This was something that was unique to him. He loved to dive in and out of the clouds, evocative of the dolphins and Thunderdrums in the ocean. He loved it, he enjoyed the jumping in the air and the cool breeze in the sky. He felt so unrestrained, as if nothing could touch him.

He wanted the woman to feel it to. He went back into the clouds and prepared for his "breach" again, he looked at her in his claws, she had an excited look now, he returned it. He rose out of the clouds and gently began a barrel roll, he did it slowly so as to allow the woman to enjoy it. His feet with the female viking encased in them, were above him. He couldn't fly upside down for long so he finished the roll. He still wanted her to enjoy it. So he dove into the clouds one more time and rose quickly and did a large somersault. At the peak; he released her.

It was momentary, he let go and quickly turned towards the ground. He dove with the woman falling with him. He flew around her in the sky. He looked at her and she was smiling. He turned so she was facing his back, she wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled up. They flew through the aurora, reveling in their brief acrobatic show.

He looked at the woman on his back and gave her a toothy grin. He saw her mouth a single word.

"Cloudjumper"

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**I saw "How to Train Your Dragon 2" today. I laughed and I cried.**

**My very favorite part was when Valka remembered the day her dragon Cloudjumper had taken her away. **

**I loved the moment where Cloudjumper got closed to baby Hiccup and held his claw out to him. He is now my favorite dragon next to Toothless.**

**Read & Review **


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